


Of the ancient days

by scribensdracones (orphan_account)



Category: Noblesse (Manhwa)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Legends, Multi, Mythology - Freeform, Origin Story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-02 06:24:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14538615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/scribensdracones
Summary: "Listen to the wind, my children. Do you hear it? Does it whisper to you? It has many stories to tell.  Stories of the old days – of the First of the Lords, of the thirteen from who we all descend. Of the first Noblesse. Of giants and of monsters, of love and of loss. Rage and joy. Of siblings and enemies. Can't you hear it in the wind? In your soul? No. That's alright. Then I should tell them. "A civilization is also defined by their culture - their beliefs, their traditions, their customs. This collection of stories does not explain the true origins of the nobles and the clans - but what the nobles themselves believe to be true. Stories and legends passed on from generation to generation as they, like all people of this world, try to answer the most fundamental questions: where do we come from?





	1. Ragnarok: The First Lords

**Author's Note:**

> I always felt as though noble society was ... greatly underdevelopped. These stories do not describe what actually happened - but what (many) nobles consider to be at least a partial truth, similar to the countless human cultures that tried to answer key questions about this world.

Listen to the wind, my children. Do you hear it? Does it whisper to you? It has many stories to tell. Stories of the old days – of the First of the Lords, of the thirteen from who we all descend. Of giants and of monsters, of love and of loss. Rage and joy. Of siblings and enemies. Can't you hear it in the wind? In your soul? No. That's alright. Then I should tell them.

In the oldest of days, the world was fire and ice. Nothing could live there, for this world knew only two extremes: a biting cold where all life would freeze away. Only the frost titans could live in that hostile half of the world. The other half belonged to the fire titans: their steps scorched the ground they walked on. At all times, even at night, did the air flicker with the torrid heat of the giants and the rivers of lava. However... where the lava of giants met the frozen wastelands of the frost giants... The lava cooled... and became ground. The first island grew and grew, and remember, children: life will always find a way. That island became the first garden. Soon, all kinds of creatures learned to live there – until, one day, the humans woke up to see a world that could be theirs one day.

It was around this time, too, that two giants met, both marveling at the island. Yet the giant of ice knew: he could not come closer, for his breath would freeze all plants and all animals... and the titaness of fire knew that she, too, had to stay away, or the huts of the humans would catch fire. She would burn them all alive... and in this sadness, this marvel over the green of the trees and the song of the birds, they found each other instead. He melted into her, and she cooled down – and from them sprang a child that was neither a titan of frost nor a titan of fire, but something else entirely. This, my children, was our first Lord: he, of fire and ice.  
For many years, the Lord did not dare going anywhere – the garden of men, expanding further and further, was no place of him.. and yet, he could not ever live in the wold of the titans – fire would consume him, frost would devour him.

And so, for long years, he watched the humans from afar, admiring them. In these harshest environments, they built their first cities, forming communities. Eventually, one day, a sweet song reached his ear – the voice of a girl who had strayed too far from the woods she knew, to the edge of _their_ world. This was where he met her – and he loved her. Just as he longed for the human world, she longed for the world of giants. Their soul knew no home until the moment they found each other. Don't make such faces! This is not a love story - not entirely. They had a single son. There were more titans who mixed - yet a human and a bastard titan having a child? This was unheard of, and was not heard of again. An abomination against nature, many said.  
However, he was still the father of the child - and he knew that both humans and titans would be disgusted of this unison and so he wandered and wandered with his lover and his son until he found another island. An island that would allow him to raise his little family in peace. Thus, he settled in Lukedonia. Yes, the same lands we live in now once belonged to the First Lord who sought a place where he could raise his son. The son grew up to well wise, and brave, but forever longing to see more of the world. How could he understand the dangers, after all, if he knew nothing but Lukedonia? He knew the rivers and the rocks, the trees and the garden of his mother, but he knew nothing of frozen wastelands and fiery pits.. and he knew nothing of the lands that belonged to the humans. 

 One day, however, the humans decided that such an abomination may not live, and with the help of the Great Wolf, the son of a human woman and a male wolf, an abomination conceived with the magic of a fire titan's blood, they assaulted Lukedonia. The great wolf, father of all werewolves, tore the Lord's love into shreds as the Lord crushed the humans who had come for his wife and his son.  
Seized by a grief no one in this world had felt before, he fought the great wolf. The wolf ran off, wounded, and he would not dare to attack them again. The Lord, however, was wounded past the point of recovery. Not even his titan's blood could save him... however, he vowed his son:

_I shall always protect you. You, and every single child, grandchild, and their grandchildren too, into eternity. My soul shall be with you forever – my soul and wisdom be yours, and you, too, my son, be the protector of your children and their people. This is my duty, and this will be yours too._

His soul did not ascend – instead, as he had promised, it remained with his son. Whenever he was in peril, he could call out to his father – and he called it Ragnarok, for he never had seen a devastating power such as his father's, a raging titan desperate to save the one he loved most. This despair could shatter the skies, kill Gods and destroy worlds.

And so, the First Lord became Ragnarok – to always be a part of his son.  
He went on to live and sired fourteen children: Loyard, the twins Elenor and Tradio, Ru, Kertia, Drosia, Landegre, Agvain, Kravei, Siriana, Merga, Blerster, Mesad … and the fourteenth's name? I am afraid that this name is lost to us.  
Yes, my children: the thirteen clans, we all descend from the children of the second Lord. Next time, I will tell you more. A good story should not be told all in a single go. 


	2. The Noblesse, Champion of Humanity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I did not mean to actually go back to this, but here I am, since there was some interest expressed!

The Second Lord went on to have fourteen children, sons and daughters, who all brought him great joy. Some were drawn to the humans, others less, intrigued, disgusted, fascinated, indifferent. Mortal, weak, frail, The Lord, the father of the nobles, often visited them. These were the days of the giants and monsters, of terrible floods and storms, of violence and terror. We must protect them, he repeated to his children again and again. While they are weak, we are powerful – this is what truly puts us above them: the willingness to protect the weak. This was not a thought that came natural to him, or any of his children, for this world knew nothing but one law: might makes right. Once, he must have thought like his children too. When the humans had come for him, had they showed mercy on a mother begging for the life of her child? Had they showed mercy on a father who wanted nothing but to live? Had they showed mercy on a child born of love? They had not. Instead, they came with the Great Wolf. For a long time, his heart has been hardened to mankind. Only after meeting her did he come to love humans, just the way our Lord has done until today.

This is a story that has been told a thousand times already, one that will continue to be told until the end of time, probably. As long as there is love, as long as someone with a beating, feeling heart walks this world, this story will be told. Through the currents of time, this story will unfold again and again, of love and loss, of death and rebirth.

A mortal woman had caught the attention of the Lord, wandering through the forests his son Blerster called his sacred hunting grounds. Here, where Rozaria and Tradio grew their precious herbs, in this garden of great and blessed beauty, he met her. Drawn in by the colorful flowers and herbs imbued with powerful, ancient magic, she had come.  
It is said that she was of no great beauty, a plain woman with withered skin and calloused hands, but of a warmth the Lord had not known before.

“This is the garden of my children, woman! Are you here to steal their power?”, the second Lord asked, filled with a sense of sudden anger. Here, no human should walk.  
"No, good man, I swear I do not! These herbs can heal awful wounds, ease pain and give hope to those who are doomed to death!", she'd answered, no fear in her eyes. This reply surprised the Lord - humans destroyed, cut down woods and smashed mountains to build fortresses and weapons of war.   
"Do you know you risk your life by being here?"  
"I beg your pardon, but I meant no harm. The animals of this forest are kind, and I have not known these gardens are anyone. See, this basket of herbs, it can help my village for two moons. Please allow me to return to them. If I anger you so, I will not come back."  
"Would you risk your life and seek these herbs elsewhere?", the Lord asked.   
"I would. Our warriors fight the monsters and beasts and need help afterwards. We lose many of them."  
"And so you would risk your life?"  
"They die so we may live - must I not be willing to die, too, for the good of my people?"  
Her words made him thoughtful. It was true, no great beast dared to wander these woods. Seized by a notion foreign to him, he offered a hand towards the woman. Maybe her courage had impressed him. Maybe he wanted to see this girl again.   
"You, you shall be allowed to come back in two moon's time and go back to your village with these herbs they need."   
She bowed before him, thanked him for the kindness with head bent low before him.

After the passing of two moons, the Lord returned to the garden and saw the woman again. Over the course of the coming years, they met many times. The Lord began to feel something he had not felt for the mothers of his children, for the titans and the giants who had birthed his own offspring.  He had grown to love her. His sons and daughters loved her too, her goodness, her quiet courage in front of their terrible powers. Eventually, she came to live with them.

For a long time, they found happiness in each other: a family, one could say. However, this joy was not meant to last. Carrying the seed of the Second Lord under her heart, the woman was befallen by a great illness, a weakness drawing at her forces. Still, stubborn as ever, she refused all help – not Elenor and Tradio who could have killed the child in her womb to save her own life, not Kertia who offered to cut away what leeched her life's forces.

“I only have one wish,” she said, with the Second Lord, her beloved, by her side, as well as his fourteen children gathered around her bed. They all loved her, and she loved them, too, and she knew: whatever she asked of them, she would receive.  
“I love every single one of you, my light of my life.. and your children too, like they were my own. But I am but human, and my heart loves humans. My love, whoever holds your legacy will be the protector of all those of your blood... but who is here to protect mankind? Who will protect mankind of the rage of your children a hundred thousand years from now? Let there be someone who will protect them. Let there be someone who will protect the humans and the nobles both.”

This was her dying wish – and the Lord swore that this child of hers would be the greatest of all nobles, filled with the greatest power humans possessed: love. She did not survive giving birth, but when the child was born, each of the Lord's children let blood drop into a chalice carved from the bone of the First Lord. Instead of a mother's milk, the crying babe received the blood of the fourteen – and became bound to them by blood.  
Together, they raised the child they called the Noblesse and this bond lasts until today. This is the power the Noblesse holds over us, given to him aeons ago by the love of a mother and the grief of the founders of our clans.

 

 


End file.
